Fabric spreader and feeder for ironing machines



Sept. 5, 1933. F. J. coUcH 1,925,582'

FABRIC SPREADER AND FEEDER FOR IRONING MCHIINESv Filed sept. 2e, 195o s sheets-sheep 1 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. J. COUCH Sept. 5, 1933.

FABRIC SPREADER vAND FEEDER FOR IRONINGMACHINES Filed Sept. 26, 1930 Sept. 5, 1933. F. J. CUCH 1,925,582

FABRIC SPREADER AND FEEDER FOR IRONING MACHINES Filed Sept. 26, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTOR Patented Sept. 5, 1933 A UNITED STATES 1,925,5sz. l

. f FABRIC SPREADER AND FEEDER? FOB IRONING MACHINES :amat J. couch, cincinnati, ohio, mimito The American Laundry Machinery Company,

Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 26, 1930 Serial No. 484,558

11 claims.y

mal shape and feeding it in such spreadv and smoothed condition to an ironing machine which receives it, the ironing machine being preferably driven at such a speed that the travel of the work therethrough is faster than the travel of work through the feeding and spreading and smoothing device so that the ironing machine acts smoother and spreader in the direction of ltravel of the Work through the feeding device by exerting a pull on the work inthe direction of travelv of the Work.

Various other objects and advantageous features of my invention may be seen in the following description and one embodiment thereof may be seen in the accompanying drawings wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing a work4 feeding apparatus and an ironing machine constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the work feeding apparatus; Fig. 3 is a side view of the part of the work feeding .apparatus shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is -a plan view of the delivery mechanism which forms a part of the entire apparatus; and Fig. 5 is a side view of the part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4. l Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, a suitable frame 1 is provided to act as a support for the various ironing and work feeding parts and driving mechanism of the apparatus and supports a cross shaft 2 on which a padded roll 3 that forms a part of a flat work ironer is mounted, the roll 3 being so disposed and arranged as to have its lowermost side contact with a heated ironing chest 4 whose upper side lis made to fit the curvature of the roll 3 and which is secured to and supported in the frame 1 by any suitable means, in this instance, by means of screw bolts 5 and springs 6. The bear--V ings 'I on the shaft 2 are preferably slidable vertically in guideways 8 on the frame l and are adjustable by means of a gear 9 connected eccentrically to two eccentric rods 10 on which the bearings 7 are mounted, the gear 9. being operated by a hand wheel 11, shaft 12, and worm 13.

The padded roll 3 hereinbefore described is rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in in conjunction therewith as a worky -Fig. 1 by. means of a sprocket wheel 14 that'is rigidly mounted on the shaft 2 and is operatively connected to a power unit 15 through the medium of a sprocket chain 16, a sprocket vl'l loosely mounted on a shaft or spindle 18, a sprocket 19 loosely mounted on-the same shaft 18 and integral with the sprocket 17, a chain 20 which connects the sprocket 19 with a sprocket 21 that mounted on a shaft 22, a gear 23, pinion 24 and a pulley 25-Which' is operatively connected to the motor ,pulley 26 by means of a belt 27.

Goods to be ironed are fed into the machine from the right hand side as viewed in Fig. 1 and the work feeding apparatus consists of a lower group of traveling belts 28 and an upper group of traveling belts 29.. Both groups-of belts diverge outwardly on either side of the center line of the feeding apparatus and from the work receiving towards the `work delivery end of the belts so that, when a piece of goods is fed between the lower and upper groups of belts with the center line of the piece substantially in registry with the center line of the groups of belts, the piece of goods will be pulled to either side of the center line by the upper and lower belts vthat are in contacting relation and between which the piece of goods is held as it is moved or carried towards the entrance between the padded roll and heated chest. The upper belts with their associated mechanism floatingly rest by gravity upon the lower belts and are driven by frictional contact therewith which assures perfect contact at all times between the' lower and upper groups of belts and a consequent gripping contact with the goods carried therebetween that is sufficient to spread the goods and thus remove wrinkles therefrom but is not suflicient to cause lateral stretching of the goods out of normal desired shape or to produce transverse ribs or wrinkles'in the goods.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the lower group of belts 28 pass around and are driven by a roller 30 disposed at the delivery end of the feeding apparatus and provided with a plurality of annular grooves 31 for the reception of the belts 28 which are preferably of the V type. A second roller 32 which is, in this instance, an idler roller and around which the V belts 28 pass is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 33 adjacent the receiving end of the feeding apparatus, the bearings 33 being adjustable to vary the tension of the V-belts 28 by means of the threaded rods 34 and hand wheels 35. The roller 32 is also provided with annular grooves equally spaced apart and made to t the V-belts 28.

Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it'will bel noted that the roller 30 is provided with two more annular grooves than the roller 32 and what shorter than the remaining belts, the two shorter belts being disposed one on either side of a center belt extending the length of the feeding apparatus and parallel to the longitudinal center line thereof so that the space otherwise left by the outwardly diverging V-belts 28 adjacent the reed end of the feeding apparatus is hlled. Suitable idler rollers 86 are provided for the two shorter V-belts so that they may be held taut at all times.

To cause the feed belts 28 to travel towards the ironing roll 3 and chest 4, the roller 30 is driven by. having a sprocket 37 which is mounted on the same shaft connected by a chain 38 to a sprocket made integral with the sprocket 2l. However, the sprocket 2l normally rotates clockwise so as to drive the ironing roll 3 in a clockwise direction through the mechanism hereinbefore described and it is necessary to have the sprocket 37 and roller 30 travel in a counter-clockwise direction so that the uppermost laps of the V-belts 28 will travel toward the delivery end of the feeding apparatus which is adjacent the entrance between the padded roll and the ironing chest. Therefore, to have the roller 30 travel counter-clockwise while the sprocket 21 rotates clockwise the chain 38 is passed from sprocket 37 to a sprocket 38' that is rigidly mounted on the shaft 18, thence over the sprocket that is integral with the sprocket 21, thence over an idler 39, and thence back over the sprocket 37. With this connection, it will be seen that the roller 30 and shaft 18 will rotate oppositely from the direction of rotation of the roll 3 or in a counter-clockwise direction.

Arranged directly'above the V-belts 28 hereinbefore described, is a floating frame 40 carrying the belts 29 which is free at one end to move vertically, or upwardly and downwardly, but is held in position to register the belts 29 with the belts 28 below by means of two aligned trunnions 41 as shown in Fig. 2 that extend oppositely to either side immediately above the bearings for the roller 30 and rest in verticallyY slottedv brackets 42. Suitable cotter pins or other holding means 43 are placed in position above the trunnions so that the forwardmost end of the frame 40 can be lifted about the trimnions as a pivot without danger of the trunnions being removed from their slots.

The `:frame 40 is provided with two idler rollers 44 at the receiving end of the feeding apparatus and two idler rollers 45 at the delivery end thereof, the two rolls 44 being disposed angularly to each other as are likewise the rolls 45 and being disposed at such an angle to the center line of the feeding apparatus that the endless belts 29 traveling thereover will diverge from the receiving to the delivery end of the feeding device at the same angularity as the V-belts 28 directly below the same on which the belts 29 rest by gravity. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, one of the endless belts 29 that registers with the center line of the feeding device is necessarily shorter than the remaining belts and an idler 46 is mounted intermediate the rolls 44 and 45 over which the short belt passes as well as over an idler 47 at the delivery end of the feeding device. It will also be noted that the lowermost or V-belts 28 are longer and extend forwardly of the belts 29 which will facilitate disposal of the goods to be ironed on the lower belts 28, and that the upper belts 29 are wider and, as shown, less in number than the lower meadow that two oi tbe endless V-belts 28 are somebelts 28 but are arranged similarly thereto as regards direction oi travel. Also, an additional weighted idler roller 48 is mounted to freely rest on the lower lap of the endless belts 29 to insure contact between such belts and the V-belts 28.

Due to the mounting of the rearward end of the floating frame 40 that is, the end nearest the ironing roll-8, the forward end of the oating frame'is free to be raised about the trunnions 41 which act as pivots. As shown in Fig. 3, the heating frame 40 carries one member 49 of an electric switch which is in the circuit furnishing power to the power unit 15 and which normally contacts with another member 50 of the electric switch comprising 'the circuit to a motor or power unit. With this construction, the parts are so connected and arranged that the motor or power unit 15 will be brought to a stop when'the front end of the doating frame 40 is raised either by hand or by a wad of goods passing thereover into the feeding device. Thus, a safety device is provided. y

In the operation of this device, the goods to be ironed are placed by hand and in a substantially flat condition upon the forwardly extending ends of the lower feed belts 28 whereupon the goods are carried towards the ironing-roll by the movingnbelts and in their passage between the lower belts y28 and upperbelts 29 which 105 contact therewith, they will be pulled and spread outwardly from the center line of the feeding apparatus due to the divergence of the upper and lower belts, and all wrinkles removed therefrom. However, due to the floating contact be- 3m' tween the upper and lower belts, sumcient gripping action is not exerted thereby on the goods to cause stretching and pulling of the goods out of their normal desired shape. To further straighten out the goods before they are ironed, the padded roll 3 is driven at a speed to feed the goods along slightly faster than the feeding belts which will remove all wrinkles that extend laterallyv across the goods. Such goods are then ironed by passage between the ironing roll 3 and the heated chest 4.

In order to permithandling of the goods more rapidly, a movable feed table 51 is provided at the feed end of the apparatus on which a batch of goods to be ironed may beplaced, the feed table having traction elements, 52 thereon whereby it may be moved to aposition under the feed device hereinbefore described whereby the operator has only to pick up one edge Vof each piece of goods and place the same onto the forward extending ends of the lower feed belts 28. The table 51 further comprises a suitable frame 53 carrying a top 54 mounted to swing about a pivot 55 and means are provided for securing the table top in either a horizontal or tilted position by means of an arcuate brace 56.

As is customary in ironing apparatus of this type, suitable carrier ribbons 57 are placed about the padded roll 3 and about a strippingidler Mo roller 58 located above the rearwardmost edge of the chest 4 so as to deliver the ironed goods onto delivery, ribbons 59 by means of which the goods are carried rearwardly to a folding table 60 as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The delivery ribbons 59, as seen in Figs. 1 and 5, are moved in a counter-clockwisedirection by passing over the driven roller 64 rigid on shaft 18. As above described, the shaft 18 is rotated counter-clockwise by the sprocket 38' which is rigidly mounted thereon. The table 60 is sup- Localizza` ported at one of its ends by being attached to the machine frame 1 as shown at 61- in Fig. 5 and is supported at its other end by suitable legs 62. As shown in Fig. 4, the apparatus is provided with further safety devices which include electric push buttons 63 within easy reach of the operator standing at each side of the table and so connected in the motor 'or power unit circuit as to stop the'machine whenever necessary.

To prevent any of the goods from clinging to the lower feed belts 28 adjacent the padded roll 3, a series of stripper ngers 31' are mounted between said belts 28. The one end of each finger 31' is supported on a rod 32' and the other end of each is supported by its rounded end resting by gravity on the end of the chest 4.

Referring to the drawings and the preceding description, it will be seen that I have provided an ironing apparatus embodying numerous novel and advantageous features, one of the most important being the provision of a means for feeding the goods to be ironed between the ironing roll and chest in a fiat state with all wrinkles removed therefrom without pulling or stretching the goods out of their normal desired shape and without necessitating that these wrinkles be removed by hand. Another important feature resides in the fact that it is only necessary for the operator to place the goods to be ironed on the feed belts whereupon the operator is relieved from all responsibility or duty until the goods are automatically delivered to the folding table.

one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame. said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by fractional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufliciently to advance the work, the divergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both side edges `to straighten the same without stretching.

2. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, an endless tape having a continuous work engaging surface throughout its length and parallel to the longitudinal center line of said frame, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower` tapes grip Work passing therebetween sufliciently to advance the work, the divergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both side edges to straighten thesame without stretching.

3. Apparatus ofthe character described, comprising a frame, positively ,drivenA generally parallel endless tapes von saidmframe having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the vframe and extending from one end of said frame to the other, an endless tape having a continuous work engaging surface throughout its length and parallel to'the longitudinal center line of said frame, and a self -contained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler 'tapes having continuous Work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the'lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, and an endless center tape arranged correspondingly to the center line lower tape, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufiiciently to advance the work,` the divergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both side edges' to straighten the same without stretching.

4. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame,positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufficiently to advance the work, the divergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both side edges to straighten the. same without stretching, said self-contained tape unit being less in length than the lower frame whereby a portion of the tapes carried thereby is exposed for article applying purposes.

5. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler. tapes having continuous workk engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper .and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween 6. Apparatusl of thecharacter described, comprising a frame, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces vthroughout their length and diverging outwardly from the 'longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless yidler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes vby gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip worl passing therebetween sufficiently to advance 'the work, the divergence of said tapes causing the `tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both side edges to straighten the-v same without stretching, and means forming a part of said self-contained unit but acting independently thereof `to press the lower laps of the tapes of said self-contained unit into contact with the upper laps of the tapes on said frame at a point within the 'length of the lower laps of the tapes of said unit.

'7, Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frarne, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven prising a frame, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the 10ngitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit superposed upon said frame,

'said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufficiently vto advance the work, the

vdivergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the Work toward both side edges to straighten the same without stretching, and means for maintaining said self-contained unit in such position relative to said frame that the upper and lower tapes will be subremesa stantially coincident, said last named means including a loose pivotal connection at the delivery end of said yapparatus and between said self-contained unit and said frame.,

` 9'. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, positively driven generally parallel endless tapes on said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging outwardly from the longitudinal center line of said frame towards the opposite sides of the frame and extending from one end of said frame to the other, and a selfcontained tape unit jsuperposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous' work engaging surfaces throughout their length and diverging to correspond with the divergence of the lower tapes and resting upon the lower tapes by gravity to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufficiently to advance the work, the divergence of said tapes causing the tapes to brush laterally across the work toward both sideedges to straighten the same without stretching, means for maintaining said self-contained unit in such position relative to said frame that the 4and said frame, and means rendered effective by raising and lowering of the opposite end of the unit for rendering the lower tape driving means ineffective or effective.

10. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, generally parallel endless tapes around said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length, means for driving said endless tapes, and a selfcontained tape unit superposedupon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and adapted to rest upon the lower tapes by reason of the weight of the self-contained unit to be driven by frictional contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes' grip work passing therebetween sufciently to advance the work, and means rendered effective by movement of said self-contained unit towards and away from the said frame for rendering said lower tape driving means effective or ineffective.

11. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, generally parallel endless tapes around said frame having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length, means for positively driving said endless tapes, and a self-contained tape unit superposed upon said frame, said unit including endless idler tapes having continuous work engaging surfaces throughout their length and adapted to rest upon the lower tapes by reason of the weight of the self-contained unit to be driven by frictionalb contact therewith, whereby the upper and lower tapes grip work passing therebetween sufficiently to advance the work, and means forming a part of said self-contained unit but acting independently thereof for pressing the lower laps of the tapes of said self-contained unit into contact with the upper laps of the tapes on said frame at a point within the length of the lower laps of the tapes of said unit.

FORREST J. COUCH. 

